There's been a very familiar script to Browns games this season.
There's the obligatory slow start on offense. Sometimes it's a quarter; sometimes it's three of them.
However, the fourth quarter comes around and the Browns suddenly remember what it means to play offensive football. Four times, including in their Week 6 13-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens, that's turned into wins.
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Browns coach Todd Monken understands that the way they're going isn't a way to sustain success for an offense that ranks in the 20s in virtually every significant stat category, including 29th in total yards per game (267.5) and per play (4.53). Pinning a reason on why it's not going that way is something that his team has to find out sooner rather than later.
"Well, when things don't go well or as you hope, there's more than just one thing," Monken said on an Oct. 19 Zoom call with the media. "We certainly need to call it better and execute better. Certainly there were some plays out there that we could have made. Like I said, it's more than just one thing. Obviously, when you end up with whatever it was, 44 or 45 yards in the first half, I mean, it's below the line. So we got a lot of work to do and we're going to continue to work that."
The Browns (4-2) will next get a chance to show that work has turned into results when they go to Nashville Oct. 25 to play the Tennessee Titans. The Titans boast a very good defensive line, with defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons at four sacks already, while defensive ends Jeremaine Johnson II and Jacob Martin each have 3.5 sacks.
The last two games, at least, sacks have been an issues in the Browns' offensive struggles. Quarterback Deshaun Watson has been sacked 13 times combined by the Ravens and, before that, the New York Jets, with seven of those 13 coming in the first half.
The issue against the Jets, where Watson was sacked eight total times, was often him holding the football too long. He seemed to fix that, at least as the game went along against thr Ravens, which is why he was only sacked twice in the second half.
"Some of it was we were behind the sticks, so it allowed them to get into some of their exotic blitzes, which is always going to be hard," Monken said. "You get behind the sticks, you're going to get the exotic blitzes and you're trying to push down field, that's more. Two is sometimes we recover. That can happen. There's a couple times where we need to get rid of the ball. It's all the above. The good thing is there wasn't as many communication issues. We did not have where, in my opinion, Brown's hurting Browns."
The Browns previous two home games, wins over the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers, marked the only times this season Watson wasn't sacked in the first half. That was also the only time the Browns reached at least 10 points in the first half as well.
Cleveland scored 10 points with 146 net yards on 35 offensive plays in the first half against the Panthers, whom it led 10-3 at halftime. The Browns scored 21 points with 222 net yards on 27 offensive plays to open up a 21-7 halftime lead on the Steelers.
Compare that, then to the Ravens game, where the Browns trailed 10-0 while netting just 46 total yards on 22 plays. The week before, in a driving rainstorm against the Jets, they trailed 7-6 with 99 net yards on 33 offensive plays.
"We just got to keep working," Watson said after the Ravens game. "It's the NFL, so things are going to be tough. It's going to be hard, especially when we have a lot of new pieces. … (Ravens coach) Jesse Minter did a good job of just calling, not repeating calls. And then yeah, I mean, you’ve got to keep fighting. A lot of games come down to that two minute and I've kind of learned that over the years and once you put me in that spot, I'm prepared and ready for those moments."
The fourth-quarter version of Watson has completed 40-of-63 passes (63.5%) for 488 yards with four touchdowns, one interception and a 101.8 rating. The problem that typically comes after first-half Watson, who's 50-of-81 (61.7%) for 480 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and an 81.3 rating.
There's an obvious desperation that comes out as a game gets later. The Browns have also been in operating from behind at some point in the fourth quarter in every game except the Steelers game, which they won on a tie-breaking 56-yard Andre Szmyt field goal.
There's an argument to be made that Watson would work better in the more freestyling parameters that a hurry-up type of offense prvoides. The question for that
"We've considered that a little bit," Monken said. "If you go back to the Steelers game, it felt like we had had a pretty good rhythm, and then I attributed a little bit of maybe the slow start (against the Jets) being we didn't handle the weather very well, but it's certainly something we've looked at in terms of trying to speed that up. We certainly have that at our disposal. And no, it's hard to really put your finger on … I guess that's why you just say it's a 60-minute game is you got to play every minute and it just has worked out to where we play a lot of our best football in the second half minus the Steelers game."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Where can Browns find offensive growth as they head to Tennessee?
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